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(CNN) -- As investigators are determining whether a skull and bones discovered behind an abandoned Central Virginia home on Saturday are those of Hannah Graham, the lone suspect in her disappearance has been indicted in an assault from almost a decade ago -- a case that police say forensically links him to another female college student who vanished from the same area as Graham.

Jesse Matthew was indicted by a grand jury in Fairfax, Virginia on Monday for the 2005 sexual assault on charges that also included attempted murder and abduction.

According to the indictment, Matthew, 32, "did feloniously, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and with premeditation attempt to kill (the victim) in the commission of or subsequent to an abduction with the intent to defile."

The then-26-year-old victim in that attack was able to provide enough of a detailed description to yield a police sketch, one that years later would link Matthew to the case of Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who vanished in Charlottesville in October 2009.

Harrington was found dead the following January. Police at the time said "forensic evidence" linked the two cases.

Fairfax County prosecutor Ray Morrogh said Monday that he could not comment on how this investigation and indictment relates to the Harrington or Graham cases, but said "the facts and details will be revealed in the judicial process."

Jim Camblos, Matthew's Charlottesville attorney in the Graham case, declined to comment when reached by CNN on Monday.

Graham last seen September 13

Graham, a University of Virginia student, was last spotted on several surveillance cameras in Charlottesville's Downtown Mall area on September 13. The footage showed her leaving the Tempo Bar around 2 a.m., followed by a man investigators think to be Matthew.

More than a month later, on October 18, Sgt. Dale Terry of the Chesterfield Sheriff's Department and his small search team were finishing up for the day when behind an abandoned home -- just eight miles from where Hannah Graham was last seen -- they found a skull and bones scattered across a creek bed.

"It was not buried, and its location was not far from the road," he told a local television station. "There was not any crushing of any bones. As far as the skull, everything looked to be intact to me."

Nearby was a pair of black pants, similar to ones Graham was wearing when she was last seen.

"I do believe God wanted us to find what we found," Terry said. "I don't know how else to explain it other than something inside me told me to just continue to look."

After Saturday's discovery, the weekend's remaining public searches were canceled so that authorities could focus their attention "on recent evidence," according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

Furthermore, police now consider the Graham case "a death investigation," said County Police Chief Steve Sellers.

"Today's discovery is a significant development, and we have a great deal of work ahead of us," Sellers said. "We cannot and we will not jump to any conclusions."

Forensic psychologist Mike Banks told CNN affiliate WTVR that forensic work could take some time.

"If it is Hannah Graham, 100%, then at least they have their child home," he said, referring to Graham's parents, John and Susan Graham.

The Albemarle County Police Department said it didn't know how long it will take for the forensic results to come back.

According to WTVR, those close to Matthew in 2009 informed investigators they would joke with Matthew that he resembled a sketch of the man linked to the 2005 Fairfax rape — and the man linked to Harrington. They said Matthew would at times brush it off. But at other times, they said Matthew would get visibly upset and disappear for hours.

According to the new indictment, Matthew is accused of trying to kill the victim in addition to abducting and raping her.

Over the weekend, crews searching for missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham discovered human remains. The remains were taken to the Medical Examiners Office in Richmond for positive identification.